Spooky sights, sounds

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Glenn Wershing says he believed his house in New Jersey was haunted the moment he moved in with his wife and three children in 1961.

"On the third floor, we would hear footsteps going from the back of the house to the front of the house, then a big thump," Mr. Wershing explains. "I think I must have run upstairs a hundred times with a flashlight to see who or what was there, but I never found anything."

Mr. Wershing, 76, and his wife, Jackie Wershing, 71, live in the Thomas P. Hunt house, a three-story farmhouse built in 1835 that runs along Bear Creek, which adjoins the property.

The couple has noted numerous incidents that suggest the lingering presence of a ghost or some unearthly being. One Christmas, for example, Mrs. Wershing took a photo of her three children around the living-room Christmas tree. When the photo was developed, it appeared that the dismal figures of three other children -- in shadowy form -- were present, as well.

The couple is among the 40 percent of Americans who believe that a place can be haunted. According to a Gallup poll in 2001, this percentage is up from about 29 percent 10 years earlier.

"You never know when these weird things will start happening, but the change in seasons is usually a good indication" Mrs. Wershing said. "It was bitter cold one night, and I awoke at about five in the morning. There, standing in front of Glenn's dresser was a lady with extremely long hair, wearing a nightgown of some sort. I just barely opened my eyelids, straining to try and see a face, but absolutely nothing was reflected in our bedroom mirror."

Mr. Wershing suggests that the people who lived in the house prior to them just weren't ready to go yet: "It wasn't like there was a murder here or anything like that. Years ago, it was commonplace for people to die in their homes. I've said I don't believe in ghosts, but something is happening in this house."

The Wershing household is one of dozens of eerie phenomena compiled in "Weird U.S.: Your Travel Guide to America's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets." The new book collects tales of the unexplained from across the country -- including such Washington-area legends as the Goatman and "Crybaby Bridge."

Joe Nickell, investigative columnist for the Skeptical Inquirer, says this belief in the paranormal taps into the hopes and fears of the American people.

"Psychic power lets us look into the future, aliens and UFOs reassure us that we are not alone in this universe, and ghosts give us the message that there's something to look forward to after death," Mr. Nickell said. "There's no objective or scientific evidence for ghosts. I've come to believe that it's not the places that are haunted. It's the minds of the people."